[Peace-discuss] Rogue cops

[John W.]

At 11:07 AM 7/22/2007, illyes at uiuc.edu wrote:

>While reading the Sunday Chicago Tribune, don't miss the editorial 
>"Eliminating rogue cops." This is the most useful edition of the Trib that 
>I can recall reading.
>
>Bob


Here it is, for those who don't happen to get the Chicago Tribune.

The Tribune has been doing a whole series of articles on rogue cops in the 
Chicago P.D.  You can read all of 'em on the Tribune web 
site:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/ .  Do a search on "rogue cops".


**********


Eliminating rogue cops

July 22, 2007


Mayor Richard M. Daley is about to appoint a new chief for a tarnished 
Chicago Police Department. Whoever lands the job has to confront a grim and 
widespread perception: that rogue cops aren't being disciplined or fired.

City of Chicago secrecy only fans suspicion that when citizens have 
complained about alleged misconduct by an officer, a go-easy attitude has 
prevailed. A companion suspicion: that in some parts of the department, 
anything goes.

A list of Chicago police misconduct allegations that city officials are 
trying to keep under wraps shows that the department's Special Operations 
Section has had a disproportionately high number of complaints, according 
to a copy of the list obtained by the Tribune. The top four officers on the 
list, each of whom had 50 or more complaints over five years, were members 
of S.O.S. The top 10 S.O.S. officers on the list had a total of 408 
complaints against them during that period.

That section, whose officers often work in dangerous circumstances and 
neighborhoods, also is the focus of a criminal probe by Cook County 
prosecutors; six officers have been indicted for robbing and kidnapping people.

Complaints vary. They range from accusations of excessive force or planting 
of evidence to reports that an officer improperly called in sick. What's 
remarkable, though, is that of the 408 complaints against the 10 officers, 
only three were sustained by the department's Office of Professional 
Standards. Only one complaint resulted in a suspension -- for a period of 
15 days. One officer was accused of 55 acts of misconduct, with none of 
those sustained, according to the list. Smoke may or may not mean fire. But 
the uniformity of the response to those complaints suggests that OPS 
routinely has whitewashed bad behavior.

Police statistics suggest that the number of complaints of serious 
misconduct has been declining at least since 2001. "I haven't seen 
meaningful changes in the amount of alleged abuse in the last decade or 
so," says Craig Futterman, the University of Chicago law professor whose 
statistical study generated the numbers the Tribune reported. "What I have 
seen is a precipitous decline in the percentage of complaints sustained by 
the Police Department."

The image of a department excruciatingly reluctant to punish its own got a 
big boost when police brass responded sluggishly to reports of two tavern 
fights involving off-duty officers.

Daley, pressed by angry aldermen, has won passage of an ordinance 
overhauling OPS, and has appointed California attorney Ilana Rosenzweig to 
make it more responsive. Unfortunately, she'll come to the job not knowing 
all she should about how serious, in relative terms, police misconduct is 
here. What's always been missing here is a full, transparent accounting of 
all allegations against police, how serious they are, and what becomes of them.

The ordinance overhauling OPS makes a stab at more transparency. But the 
wording is vague, the demands for routine reporting incomplete. Rosenzweig 
will take a big step toward building public confidence -- in herself and, 
ultimately, in the police -- if she creates a thorough Internet database 
that any citizen can inspect. That would tell citizens much more about 
whether rogue cops are being removed from the force. It also would tell the 
department where to improve training or how best to stress the enforcement 
of its rules against misconduct.

Rosenzweig and a re-energized OPS can only do so much. Day to day, police 
officers have to police one another -- and themselves. That's where Daley's 
choice of a superintendent comes in. Chicago's next top cop has to make 
eradicating misconduct a high priority while continuing to drive down 
violent crime. No police superintendent ever has faced such challenging 
times on both fronts simultaneously.

A new OPS is only a start, Mayor, so choose your superintendent carefully. 
Your city needs safety. And your law-abiding police officers need every 
Chicagoan's trust.


Copyright © 2007, <http://www.chicagotribune.com/>Chicago Tribune
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